Sinners!

I have very definite ideas about almost everything. That is not always one of my more endearing qualities. I am also very protective of my friends. I find absolutely no value in saying the obvious, or not so obvious when I speak of them.

Almost everyone I love has something about them that someone else might not care for, but it is not their defining feature. Understanding that, I often just bite my tongue when I hear blatantly stupid remarks. I realize that the people making them have no idea what they are talking about. In fact, they are often just parroting what some other ignorant person told them. It makes me so angry that I usually just let it go. Trying to change someone’s mind is almost impossible when it comes to irrational thoughts and fears.

Today I just could not do that, but instead of showing the anger boiling up inside of me, I tried to find common ground. Places where both of us agreed on something and then every now and then, slip in a truth about me, or my friends. Keeping the conversation light and apparently carefree made her much more receptive.

I don’t for a minute think that I changed what she thought in any radical way, but she was listening to me. Her brash generalizations softened just enough to, at least consider what I was saying.

It won’t be today, or tomorrow, but maybe some day down the road, she will be a little more charitable in her judgments on who is good and who is bad and who is lost in sin.